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Coast Guard Cannot Clean Up Great Lakes Oil Spill

The Coast Guard is not prepared to clean up a large-scale pipeline spill in the Great Lakes, the agency's chief told a Senate Science and Transportation subcommittee on Thursday, November 16, 2017.

"I would go on the record to say that the Coast Guard is not semper paratus for a major pipeline oil spill in the Great Lakes," Adm. Paul Zukunft, Coast Guard commandant, told a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee.

"More science needs to be done in that regard," he added.

The comments come amid growing ire from state officials in the Midwest over safety issues with Enbridge Inc.'s Line 5 pipeline, which runs underneath the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan.